Ukiah fire chief adopts puppy injured in car crash

“Her whole right side was broken”

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Joyce Boghosian and Kevin Jennings play with their dogs Phoenix, center, and Riggs in their back yard. The couple adopted Phoenix after she was seriously injured in a crash Jennings responded to last winter.
(Justine Frederiksen — Ukiah Daily Journal)

The call began like so many others: A car slid off a slick road into a ditch and firefighters responded to help remove the trapped driver.

“It wasn’t until we pulled her out that we saw there was a puppy down by her legs,” said Kevin Jennings, a Division Chief for the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority, who knew almost immediately that “something was really wrong with the dog. And I knew if I called someone else to pick her up, she would be taken to the shelter and she would probably die there that night.”

So instead he called his wife, Joyce Boghosian, and asked her to call a veterinarian.

“It was about 6:30 p.m. on a stormy Friday night,” said Boghosian, recalling that when she called the animal hospital, she thought for sure no one would answer. “But they did, they were still there. So I thought, ‘this must be a sign.'”

The local veterinarian treated the puppy, but quickly determined she would need to go to VCA PetCare in Santa Rosa. Despite the rainy weather, Boghosian said she and Jennings looked at each other and exclaimed, “Road trip!”

Since Jennings was still on duty, he asked fellow Division Chief Jeff Adair to cover part of his shift, then the couple loaded the dog into their truck, wrapping her in a heated blanket and hanging her IV off the rear-view mirror. As they headed south, the ambulance taking the puppy’s owner to another hospital in Santa Rosa passed them on Highway 101.

At PetCare they learned the dog’s “whole right side was broken: both legs were broken, her right hip dislocated, and she had broken ribs and a collapsed lung on that side. They never said she had a concussion, but we think she did.”

The estimate for treating the puppy was $12,000, and the hospital staff said she would face a long recovery if she survived the night.

“I’m not sure if I looked at Joyce first, but I remember saying, ‘Well, fix her!'” Jennings said.

‘A second chance’

Soon after the crash, Jennings was texting the driver’s brother to give him updates on his sister and the puppy. When he explained how much it would cost to treat the dog and offered to adopt her, the owner agreed.

“(My sister) said she is very happy you saved her, and thinks you will provide her a better life than she ever could,” the driver’s brother wrote in texts Jennings still has on his phone. “She would like you to give that puppy a second chance that most never get.”

The puppy spent about a week in the hospital, and during her stay Boghosian was telling her story on social media. Many of her friends offered to help pay for her care, so Boghosian set up an online account and “we had a lot of benefactors” donate funds.

When it was time for the puppy to come home, the couple had named her Phoenix – “Because she rose from the ashes” – and prepared to slowly introduce her to the rest of their family, which includes cats, guinea pigs and a male puppy just a few months older: a Boxer and pitbull mix named Riggs (after the Lethal Weapon character), who was adopted from a local shelter.

On Friday, Phoenix and Riggs chased tennis balls in their back yard, looking like any other pair of happy, young dogs. Only if you knew where to look would you see Phoenix’s injuries lingering.

“The doctors thought they might have to remove her back right leg because of all of the damage to the hip. But the next day, they called and said they could save it,” said Boghosian, explaining that much of the damaged hip joint was removed, leaving behind only muscle to anchor the leg.

“That’s why she kind of drags that back leg,” said Jennings. “But it hasn’t slowed her down at all. She’s faster than Riggs!”

“And she’s just delightful – she is just the sweetest girl,” Jennings continued as the couple’s oldest dog, a 14-year-old Chocolate Labrador ambled out to join the group. “Before Riggs and Phoenix, we had never adopted rescues before. But they are just the most loyal, loving dogs.”

“And if we had more property, we’d probably have at least two more dogs,” he said, to which his wife added, “And donkeys, and Llamas…”

But for now, the couple has their hands full with the animals they already have, which include a cat Jennings found wandering around the fire station as a kitten.

“I put it in my truck with the intention of taking it to the shelter,” he said. But like Phoenix, the cat never made it there.